Liquid electrolyte batteries, for example lead-acid batteries, provide electrical energy by means of an electrochemical reaction. The electrochemical reaction involves the reaction of an acid, for example sulfuric acid, with a battery electrode to create an electrical potential. Owing to their reliability and low cost, lead-acid batteries are among the primary sources of electrical power for self-powered vehicles (including for example forklifts and reach trucks), standby power and other applications.
A variety of sensors exist for monitoring the condition or performance of lead-acid batteries. For example, lead-acid batteries experience a loss of water when recharging and from heat induced water evaporation. Accordingly, known water level sensors can measure the liquid level within the battery enclosure. Additional sensors are known to measure ambient air temperature, battery fluid temperature, battery voltage, amp-hour throughput, and half-voltage (the voltage of one half of the battery as compared to the other half of the battery).
A variety of issues arise with existing sensors, however. For example, existing sensors lack integration, and do not entirely mitigate the need to manually inspect each battery. In addition, existing liquid level sensors do not measure the amount of water consumed by the battery, and instead measure the presence or absence of a predetermined liquid level at a given point in time.
Accordingly, there remains a continued need for an improved battery monitoring system for liquid electrolyte batteries, and in particular lead-acid batteries. In addition, there remains a continued need for an improved battery monitoring system that automatically monitors the condition and performance of lead-acid batteries to thereby improve battery operation and longevity.